


Un-Bottled Thoughts

by TBPOnTheSide



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alcohol, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Flirting, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Mush, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TBPOnTheSide/pseuds/TBPOnTheSide
Summary: Tim accidentally ends up drunk at a Wayne event and calls Steph for help. He turns into an over-confident flirt and confesses more than he's aware of.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake
Comments: 7
Kudos: 72





	Un-Bottled Thoughts

Nights off from crime fighting were rare at best, and Steph had been thoroughly enjoying hers...that is until she heard her communicator beeping loudly from across the room.  _ Perfect.  _ she grumbled to herself as she begrudgingly rolled herself out of the comfy safe haven that was her bed, and trudged across the room to answer the unwarranted call. She raised an eyebrow in confusion as she saw who the call was coming from. Her ex boyfriend...Tim Drake. 

It wasn't typical of him to call at all, in fact they had more of a "teammates first, friends second" kind of relationship now. It was definitely a bit awkward for them whenever they tried to just ‘hang out’ nowadays. Steph couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern. If he was calling  _ her,  _ he might be in trouble. She tried not to think about the worst case scenario, making sure she remained calm as she answered the call. 

"Tim?" She could hear garbled static noises coming through her comm's speaker, as if the comm on the other end was tumbling around in someone's pocket or a bag of some kind.  _ Great, probably called by accident.  _ Steph breathed a sigh of relief as she went to hang up, but a loud clattering noise and some confused mumbling paused her for a moment.

"Helllooooo?" She heard Tim ask. Something was off with his voice, but she couldn't quite place it. 

"What's going on, is everything ok?" She asked, her concern slowly creeping back into her mind. 

"Who is this?" He definitely sounded weird. Almost as if he was slurring his words, like he was...no way. The idea that Tim had been _heavily_ _drinking_ was a stretch for her.

"It's Steph. Are you ok?" 

"Steph? Why are you calling me?" Oh boy. He was  _ definitely  _ drunk. It was almost kind of funny when she thought about it. Tim really wasn't the drinking type, especially not to this extent; yet somehow he'd managed to drink enough to drunk dial  _ her  _ of all people. She definitely wasn’t going to let him hear the end of it any time soon.

"Actually you called me." She said, laughing lightly.

"I did?" He asked. He sounded painfully confused. "I think...I think I drank too much." 

She was struggling to hold back more laughter, "And why do you think that?"

"There was this thing I had to go to...for one of Bruce’s business guys at this club.” Tim slurred, and boy did he sound  _ really  _ out of it. “They had free drinks, but I don’t think they were that strong. They didn’t taste very alcohol-y.”

“Are you sure about that?” Steph giggled. “How many did you have?”

“Three? I don’t know...they tasted reaaaallllyyy good.” Steph heard a sort of clatter coming from her comm’s receiver again, and figured Tim must have dropped it and was struggling to pick it up. He sounded pretty distressed the whole while.

“Mhm, sounds like it.” She shook her head, amused as it sounded like Tim had finally gotten ahold of his comm again. “I think you’ll be ok though, just drink lots of water and go to bed?”

“I’m not at home though.” His voice was louder, as if he had the receiver pressed right against his mouth.  _ There was the concern again _ . Steph suddenly felt a small wave of fear coursing through her body. Tim could be  _ anywhere _ in Gotham, and he wasn't exactly in the best shape to be defending himself against even a low-level thug.

“Oh my god Tim, where are you?” She asked, worried. She heard him scoff lightly.

“I’m right here.” He said confidently.  _ Just great, he's going to get himself killed. _

“Ok then just stay there, I’m gonna track your location and I’ll be right there.” Steph said as she pushed a couple buttons to zero in on his signal. 

“Why?” He whined. Steph quickly raced around her room, grabbing for the nearest pair of sweats and a t-shirt, throwing the outfit on in a frenzied manner. 

“Just stay put, alright?” She had his signal. He didn't look to be in too dangerous of an area, but it was Gotham so anywhere was risky. She slipped on a pair of tennis shoes and sighed heavily, running downstairs to grab the car keys before heading out.  _ So much for a night off… _

**......**

Steph considered herself lucky that Tim was pretty much immobilized in his current state, but that also meant he was leaving himself vulnerable and defenseless in Gotham...at night...basically an easy target for any criminal scum passing by.  _ He better not blame ME if something bad happens to him. _ It didn't take long to find him. He had managed to get himself to a pretty secluded alley pretty far from any nightclub he might have been at that night. It was too small an alley for her to drive down, and she wasn’t going to risk trying to squeeze in anyway. The car was a gift from Bruce, and she didn’t want to thank him for it by scratching up the sides.

Tim seemed to perk up as Steph walked towards him, a big dopey grin splayed out on his face. He was leaning against the wall, looking a bit like a ragdoll that had been haphazardly placed there. The suit he was wearing was fairly wrinkled and dirty, and the knees looked a bit scuffed up. She wondered how many times he’d fallen down on his way to his current location.

"Heyyyy Stepphieee." He said, sounding relieved.  _ Stephie.  _ Been a while since he'd called her that. She figured she'd let it pass for the time being.

"Hey wonder boy, glad to see you're still in one piece." She smirked, leaning down to get a closer look at him. He didn't seem too out of it, seemed more like a case of him being a lightweight. After all, she didn't think he'd somehow magically acquire a high tolerance out of nowhere.

"Of course I am." He scoffed, his eyes gleaming with confidence. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but I  _ happen  _ to be a badass." Steph had to stifle a laugh, which was proving to be very difficult. 

"How could I ever forget? Clearly you've got this situation under control." She stood back up, placing her hands on her hips. "Which means you don't need my help standing up, right?" 

Tim looked up at her, still looking fairly confident in himself.

"That's a stupid question, I'm Red Robin, I can do anything." He shifted his legs, placing his arms at his side to start to push himself into an upright position. Of course, this was a bit of a heavy task for him, and although he managed to stand up, he was wholly unbalanced and had to brace himself ag ainst the wall. "See?" He smirked, looking very pleased with himself. 

"Uh huh, very impressive." Steph giggled. "Now do you want a ride home or are you also gonna do that yourself?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Tim's confidence seemed to falter slightly as he looked at the ground and back at her.

"Good call...you drive." He nodded, matter of factly. Steph rolled her eyes, smiling softly at him.

"Come on, and try not to puke in my car, ok?" She teased, putting one of his arms over her shoulder and holding onto his waist, slowly and carefully walking him to the car. He was actually walking pretty well considering, but he wouldn't have maybe been so successful by himself. She had to do a bit of shifting to get the door open, and she was careful not to let him fall into the seat. He looked up at her as she went to help him with his seatbelt. His eyes were fixed on hers for a moment but he looked away suddenly. 

"Thanks for coming to get me." He sounded almost embarrassed, Steph thought. She wasn't surprised, he'd really never been in a situation like this before…well, she assumed he hadn't. "I owe you and I mean it. You’re amazing." He mumbled.  _ Amazing?  _ She was definitely going to hold that over him too once he was conscious again. 

"It's a little too late to be calling me amazing but you're right, I am." She closed his door and skipped over to her side, getting herself situated. Tim shifted around, leaning his head against his window. 

"You are. I'm really glad I called you tonight…" Tim's voice was hardly audible with the way his mouth was squished against the glass, but Steph smiled softly to herself. She wondered if it was just the alcohol talking, or if he actually  _ was  _ happy she was the one he'd called. She and Tim really did barely talk these days outside of Bat stuff. If she was really so amazing, you'd think he might have made an effort to get in touch more.

"Steph?" She heard him question, he sounded serious. She readied herself for what she feared might be an unwarranted confession. "Why don't they just build Arkham stronger? I mean, everyone just keeps breaking out. It's like...the worst prison ever." 

Steph couldn't help but laugh. At least that meant he was probably way too out of his mind to reach for any deep secrets he might have stashed. 

"I'm serious Steph, it's like totally way too easy to break out of there." He whined, only making her laugh harder.

"I know, I know." She giggled, starting the car, and pulling back out into Gotham's streets, driving towards Crime Alley. "And how do you propose we make it stronger?" Steph found it hard to keep a straight face while Tim spent a good chunk of the ride rambling about his ideas to strengthen Arkham's walls, one of which involved building a much larger, even stronger version of Arkham Asylum outside of the existing structure. But everytime she laughed, he ended up frustrated, explaining why his plans were so clearly foolproof. She couldn't help but find it kind of adorable. Tim in his drunken state kind of reminded her of the happy-go-lucky, dorky kid she'd once known. Not that he was suggesting getting him wasted like this more often, but it was a nice break from the more stoic, serious Tim that had replaced him recently. She missed the old Tim. It was nice to see that he hadn’t been completely obliterated in the last few years.

Tim was still sounding barely coherent by the time they got to his place at the old theatre, and he needed assistance getting out of the car. He fumbled clumsily with his seatbelt and Steph had to lean over him to unclick it. 

“How have you not hurt yourself more tonight?” She giggled as Tim sat there, blinking rapidly before turning his focus back to her. He stared at her again, smiling.

“Your hair is really soft…” He mumbled, reaching his hand up and loosely brushing it through her hair. She felt herself blushing a bit. Tim was more than out of it, but weren’t people supposed to be more honest when they were plastered? Not that Tim always thought before he spoke anyway, but not like this, and not with her. She brushed the comment aside and pulled his hand away from her face, unsure if he even knew  _ what _ he was saying, and started to help him out of the car.

“I think we really need to get you in bed.” She joked, putting his arm back over her shoulder as she half-dragged him up to his front door.

“That’s very forward of you.” He smirked, his words still slurring a bit. She rolled her eyes, smiling.

“Just give me your keys.” He dug through his pockets for a moment until he found his keys. Steph breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t even considered that he might have lost them somewhere in Gotham. She took them from him and opened the door, walking him carefully through the dark to his living room. She realized that she hadn’t actually been to his house before. She’d been in his cave a few times, but never upstairs. It was kind of bizarre being there, especially since the circumstances hadn’t really come with a proper invitation. Not that she thought Tim would have been upset about it, he kind of had no choice in the moment.

Once she managed to get him to the couch, she went in search of a few light switches, making sure not to make it too overbearing for him in his current state. Part of her wanted to take a moment to explore, but that could wait until Tim sobered up a bit. She wandered over to his kitchen to get him some water and maybe something to eat. The cabinets and fridge were pretty sparse;  _ does he ever go grocery shopping??  _ She honestly couldn’t even picture him running normal errands these days. She settled on just the glass of water for the time being.

“Don’t you ever keep any food in this place?” She joked, sitting down next to him, holding the glass of water out to him.

“This isn’t my bed.” He stated, looking confused.

“Brilliant observation there, Sherlock.” She teased. “I need you to drink this before I try to get you up all those stairs, ok?” He nodded, taking a long sip. 

“Are you gonna stay the night?” He asked, leaning his head back and turning his eyes towards her. She could hear the sleepiness creeping into his tone.

“I can if you need me to.” She smiled. “But you really should take a shower, and I’m not helping you with that.” 

“Maybe in the morning, or is it already morning?” He asked, a mildly worried expression crossing over his face. 

“Not yet, but almost.” She laughed lightly, poking him on the nose, seeing his still worried expression. “It’s ok. Even the great Timothy Drake is allowed to slip up every now and again. Don’t worry about it. I’m just happy you’re not dead.” She needed to get him upstairs, which was going to be a task and a half. Not that she couldn’t handle it, but Tim was still pretty wobbly. If he slipped and she didn’t catch him fast enough, it would be a bad day for both of them. 

“Ok then, ready for the perilous trek up the stairs?” Steph asked cheerfully. The color in Tim’s face drained slightly. “We’ll go slow, I promise.” She said, trying to reassure him. He looked like he was about to hurl just at the thought. How he’d managed to keep his stomach steady this long was a miracle. Tim nodded, but he didn’t look too convinced. Steph leaned down to let him loop his arm around her shoulder again. She’d have to bring up his water glass separately once she got him laying down. 

Tim’s stairs were narrow and a little bit slippery. They weren’t necessarily designed for function first, Steph decided. They took each step carefully and slowly and Tim’s grip on her shoulder was tight and trusting. She could see the embarrassment in his face again. She wondered how much of this he would remember in the morning, or how much he would try to pretend never happened. Tim had a strong sense of personal pride, the foundation for which was crumbling with every stair they climbed. She wasn’t sure what version of Tim would be there in the aftermath of this defeat.

They finally reached their summit and Steph carefully led Tim down the hall to his bedroom. It was dark and spacious and practically empty. Bland. There was a large window with a view of the city; Steph thought that was a nice touch at least. She helped him over to his bed, which was far too large for just one person, especially someone who barely slept. Tim let go of her and collapsed into the sheets as soon as they’d gotten close enough to the edge of the bed and mumbled something incoherent into the mattress.

“Happy?” She giggled.

Tim rolled over onto his back and shifted himself to sit upright. “Yeah, thank you. Can I maybe have some more water though?”

“I’ll go get your glass, but try to lay down, ok?”

“Can’t...too dizzy…” Tim said weakly. The trip up the stairs might not have been a good idea. Tim leaned his head back against his headboard as Steph hurried out of the room and back downstairs. When she came back upstairs Tim was struggling to get himself out of his tie. She probably should have loosened that for him sooner.  _ Whoops.  _ He’d thrown his suit jacket across the room already, as well as one of his shoes. His hair had gone completely wild in his struggle and Steph laughed as she sat down in front of him on his bed. 

“You’re gonna strangle yourself, let me help.” She set the glass of water on his nightstand and gently loosened his tie enough that she could pull it over his head. Tim was staring intently at her and she realized that maybe in his inebriated state, what she was doing could be giving the wrong impression. His light eyes were deadlocked with hers, and she could swear she felt him leaning into her. She quickly stood back up, feeling a bit dizzy herself now. 

“You’ll have to manage the rest by yourself I’m afraid. Where do you keep your pajamas?” Tim pointed to a dresser that rested against the opposite wall from his bed, not taking his eyes off of her. Steph rifled through the drawers, grabbing the first pair of pants and a t-shirt she could find and tossed them back to Tim. He looked absolutely stunned, frozen. 

“I’ll be right back, drink the rest of your water.” Steph skipped over to Tim’s bathroom and shut the door behind her, putting a nice barrier between her and her brief lapse in judgement. 

She was being far too casual with Tim, who unfortunately was a very flirtatious and confident drunk. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea, especially when he was barely aware of his own surroundings. Of course, there was still the chance that he wouldn’t remember anything tomorrow, so he wouldn’t remember her playing nurse for him. She needed to try and coax him to sleep. She needed to hit a reset button on him before the night got any more awkward for the both of them. She leaned against the sink for a few minutes, giving Tim enough time to change. She then grabbed a washcloth from a shelf on the wall and ran it under some cold water, rang it out until it was damp, and made her way back into Tim’s room. 

Tim had managed to somehow get himself into his pajamas, even though his shirt was on backwards. Steph took off her shoes and tentatively climbed on the opposite side of the bed from him, and scooted semi-close to him. He was smiling at her the whole way which made her stomach twist into a bunch of tiny knots.

“You’re the best, Stephie...” he mumbled as she brushed his hair away from his face gently before draping the cold towel across his forehead.

“You keep saying things like that.” She spoke softly, keeping her hand on his forehead, absentmindedly stroking his hairline with her fingertips.

“Because you are. You’re like, the best person in the world.”

Steph leaned her head against Tim’s headboard and he shifted so that he was laying on his side, facing her. 

“Wanna know a secret?” He asked.

“Maybe we should save that for tomorrow.” she suggested. She curled her legs up into her chest, trying to postpone any other drunken confessions that Tim might spit out until he was returned to his more reserved, closed off state. Tim didn’t seem to listen to her though and continued on anyway.

“I wish you were still my girlfriend.” Steph felt her cheeks flush deeply red and she could swear her heart dropped into her stomach and got tangled in with the mess of knots. She was frozen, mute. She’d expected maybe another over-the-top compliment, but she had no idea that Tim might actually still have feelings for her. Was it the alcohol talking? It had to be. If Tim still liked her, she would have known. Unless that was why they’d stopped speaking as of late. Maybe he didn’t want her to know. Too late now. Even if he forgot everything tomorrow, there was no way she could. 

“Are you gonna stay here with me?” He asked. Steph bit her lip, trying to decide if that was such a good idea. She didn’t want to leave him completely alone. She could at least sleep on the couch downstairs.

“I’ll stay here until you fall asleep, is that ok?”

“Then maybe I’ll stay up all night.” Despite his plan he closed his eyes and Steph felt a wave of relief pass over her. He was still awake, but she figured that wouldn’t last very long, what with how exhausted he looked. She was starting to feel a bit tired herself, and was fighting against the coziness of Tim’s bed. She couldn’t be sure, but she had a feeling that his mattress was more expensive than everything she owned combined. Maybe he had a guest room down the hall that she could utilize instead of the couch. 

Tim’s breathing was getting more relaxed, which thankfully was helping Steph’s nerves calm down. Would it really be so awful if Tim still had feelings for her? He was sweet, and familiar… She hadn’t really thought about how she felt about him for a while, but now that the cat was out of the bag, she felt she had to consider the option.

  
**  
**

**Pros: Cons:**

Sweet OVERprotective

Caring Sometimes controlling

Intelligent Untrusting

Determined High-strung

Protective Unstable

Gentle Familiar

Cute ( _ very  _ cute)

Familiar

She had no idea if she and Tim would end up on the same painful path as last time or not. They’d both changed in the past few years, giving things another go could be...interesting. She certainly could get used to his bed, his sheets had to be 100% Egyptian cotton or something, holy shit they were comfortable. She was getting WAY ahead of herself though. He’d made a barely steady confession and she was already planning on moving in?  _ Slow down Steph.  _

Tim shifted himself to lay more horizontally onto one of his pillows and Steph took that as a sign to remove the towel from his forehead.

“I should ask Stephanie on a date.” Tim mumbled quietly. Boy was he still out of it, but dammit if that wasn’t adorable. She smiled and pulled his comforter up over him before getting up off of the bed.

“Maybe you should.” She whispered. She put the washcloth back in Tim’s bathroom and tried to exit the room as quietly as she could. How was she supposed to explain this tomorrow without him freaking out? She couldn’t. Tim would freak out no matter how she worded it so she could at least have a little fun with it. In the meantime, she happily located the guest room down the hall whose bed had the same luxurious sheets and cloud-like mattress as Tim’s. If everything went sour tomorrow, at least she’d get the best sleep of her life tonight.

**......**

Tim woke up to a roaring headache and an awful taste in his mouth. He had to do a mental recalculation which was not easy. He remembered the event he was at, and he remembered the complimentary drinks. Those were good,  _ very good.  _ He remembered leaving, and he could just barely remember puking his guts out behind some building, somewhere, but things ended up a blur shortly after. Perhaps the drinks were too good, or he was too stupid to think about how strong they were. He also remembered Steph, but that couldn’t be right. He didn’t remember how he got home. He had no idea how he ended up in his bed and in his pajamas. He sat up slowly and had to cover his eyes to shield the bright light streaming in from his window. Each ray of sunlight was like a painful dagger in his forehead. How the hell had he managed to overdo it to this scale? He never overdid it. He hardly ever drank at all. 

He dragged himself out of his bed and felt an immediate aching sensation in several of his limbs. He’d have to figure out if he had injured himself later. Nothing was broken, that he was sure of. He needed water, and caffeine. He stumbled into his bathroom and stood over the sink, turning it on to splash a bit of cold water into his face. Why did he remember Steph? He had a sinking feeling in his gut that she’d had to give him a ride home. He hoped that wasn’t the case. He had no idea how messed up he was last night. Enough that he didn’t want anyone to see him like that,  _ especially  _ Steph. Not that he feared too much judgement from her, but it still probably wasn’t a good look for him.

He headed out of his bedroom and his stomach sank even further when he realized there were sounds coming from his kitchen downstairs.  _ Please don’t let that be Steph. _ But as he reached the bottom of the stairs, there she was, standing over his stove, frying several strips of bacon. The smell made him feel mildly nauseous despite how hungry he was.

“Morning sunshine. How’s your head?” She asked, smiling her familiar bright smile at him. He didn’t answer her. “I have some hot water ready if you need to make yourself some tea or coffee.”

“Tea’s fine…” He said, feeling confused and preemptively embarrassed. He was desperately trying to recall last night but his memories seemed completely blocked. Had Steph stayed in his bed last night? Had she seen him throw up? Oh god, had she had to help him get undressed and redressed? He felt more than sick. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to remember last night now.

“Here, take these.” Steph said, handing him what looked like three ibuprofen tablets. 

“Thanks.” Tim stepped into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea, and washed the pills down with a cold glass of water while he waited for his tea bag to steep fully.

“Do you remember anything at all from last night?” Steph asked, turning the stove off and moving her bacon over to a plate she had at the ready.

“Not really. How bad was it?”

“Could have been a lot worse.” She smiled warmly at him. That was a relief, maybe he’d been too out of it to do anything stupid. Steph grabbed her plate and started to head over towards the couch. 

“Oh by the way.” She started, spinning around to face him again. “You  _ did  _ say  _ something  _ about how badly you wanted to date me again, so I was thinking dinner tonight. How does 8 o’clock sound?” She grinned and winked at him before skipping away into the living room and Tim felt his mind go completely static, and he could swear he was about to throw up again.  _ Shit shit shit.  _ He hadn’t, no way...and she’d said...yes? His legs suddenly felt as if they were turning to jell-o, like they would give way at any minute. He was sweating too.  _ Say something!  _ What the hell was he  _ supposed  _ to say?

“W-what?”

Steph giggled from the couch.”Don’t worry wonder dork, I’ll explain everything later.”

This was either going to be the best or most embarrassing night of his life in a long time.


End file.
